The government of Queensland has picked up five investment banks to manage the public offering of QR National. The total worth of the IPO is expected to be close to A$7 billion.

Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JBWere, Merrill Lynch, RBS and UBS are going to the ones, said the treasurer secretary of Queensland, Andrew Fraser.

QR is into the business of coal, freight and infrastructure servicing. The announcement that it would go public came on December 8.

The banks have been chosen based on their capacities to provide such services. And since they are international banks, they can give better national and international perspective to the whole issue, said Fraser.

Queensland Rail passenger business is not going to be a part of the issue since the government has separated the rail business from the freight transportation, coal haulage, and infrastructure servicing business.

After the offer, the government will be holding 25 per cent to 40 per cent of the shares in the new QR National. The rest will be floated for the other investors.

Preferential share allocation for the employees will take place, said Fraser.